Even
though it's the fastest land animal on the planet, it's not actually
speed that's key to a cheetah's hunt. New research reveals cheetahs rely
more on their extreme agility and maneuverability to bring down their
prey.
The speed of cheetahs has been subject to scientific
debate. Measurements taken in the '60s clocked them reaching speeds of
64 mph, but subsequent investigations only measured them
hitting 40 mph (about the speed of a greyhound). These studies were
also carried out with captive cheetahs, meaning they could tell us
little about how cheetahs really used their speed in the wild.
To find out what these cats are really capable of, a team of
researchers tracked the movements of 5 wild cheetahs with collars. These
collars monitored speed, acceleration, deceleration and location and
collected 367 runs over 17 months.
The researchers were
surprised to find out agility and maneuverability were more important
than speed during a hunt. They were capable of very high speeds (one,
called Ferrari, was clocked at 58mph) but the average top speed taken
was 33mph, and even this was only maintained for a few seconds. There
was also very little difference in speed between successful and failed
hunts.
The data revealed, however, that the big cats are
champions at rapid acceleration and deceleration. Cheetahs can speed up
or slow down by 9mph in a single stride. Their muscle power output per
kilogram (100 watts) during acceleration is the highest of any land
animal - for comparison, Usain Bolt can produce 25 watts. Speeding up
and slowly down rapidly are more important in catching prey than simple
speed.
Conventional wisdom also painted cheetahs as dawn
hunters, staying within open grasslands. The new data overturns this:
the cheetahs hunted during during the day too and half the runs occurred
among shrubs, trees and heavy vegetation.
Photo: Cheetah wearing a tracking collar. Credit to Structure & Motion Lab, RVC.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://
http://news.sciencemag.org/
http://www.nature.com/news/
The speed of cheetahs has been subject to scientific debate. Measurements taken in the '60s clocked them reaching speeds of 64 mph, but subsequent investigations only measured them hitting 40 mph (about the speed of a greyhound). These studies were also carried out with captive cheetahs, meaning they could tell us little about how cheetahs really used their speed in the wild.
To find out what these cats are really capable of, a team of researchers tracked the movements of 5 wild cheetahs with collars. These collars monitored speed, acceleration, deceleration and location and collected 367 runs over 17 months.
The researchers were surprised to find out agility and maneuverability were more important than speed during a hunt. They were capable of very high speeds (one, called Ferrari, was clocked at 58mph) but the average top speed taken was 33mph, and even this was only maintained for a few seconds. There was also very little difference in speed between successful and failed hunts.
The data revealed, however, that the big cats are champions at rapid acceleration and deceleration. Cheetahs can speed up or slow down by 9mph in a single stride. Their muscle power output per kilogram (100 watts) during acceleration is the highest of any land animal - for comparison, Usain Bolt can produce 25 watts. Speeding up and slowly down rapidly are more important in catching prey than simple speed.
Conventional wisdom also painted cheetahs as dawn hunters, staying within open grasslands. The new data overturns this: the cheetahs hunted during during the day too and half the runs occurred among shrubs, trees and heavy vegetation.
Photo: Cheetah wearing a tracking collar. Credit to Structure & Motion Lab, RVC.
http://www.livescience.com/
http://
http://news.sciencemag.org/
http://www.nature.com/news/
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